I'm Yours
by happyalvin
Summary: What can you say about Grace Bishop, a sixteen year old girl who fell in love with a vampire? That she was beautiful, brilliant or just plain stupid and in way over her head? That she loved running, the violin, eating cheeseburgers and Damon Salvatore despite him loving another and knowing that he'd only break her heart? Or maybe you could just call her the girl who saved Damon...
1. Chapter 1

Grace vacantly stared out of the car window, for the better part of the hour the scenery had just been trees and woodland and Grace had lost count of how long they had been driving for. It seemed like they had been in this car forever and Grace wasn't sure whether that was a good thing as her parents were driving her to a small town in Virginia called Mystic Falls. It was one of those seemingly small towns that most people had never heard of and Grace was moving to this tiny town. Her parent had been offered this apparently amazing job in China and so they were moving there and Grace was going to stay with her aunt and uncle to finish up her last two years of high school whilst they went to Hong Kong. Whilst her parents had given her a choice of staying in America or going with them, Grace had opted to stay thinking that her parents would let her stay in D.C. where her entire life was. But that wasn't the case. Her parents thought it would be better if she stayed with the closest living relative and since her brother was in New Jersey in college and unable to look after here, here Grace was on her way to Mystic Falls.

"Gracie, you okay? You haven't said anything since we left." Nora Bishop, Grace's mother asked as she turned back in her seat to look at her daughter who was sitting in the back of the car.

"I'm fine mom, just thinking that's all…" Grace said in the same bored of tone voice that she had been using ever since her parents had announced she was moving to Mystic Falls. Grace wasn't happy about any of this as she had grown up moving around constantly because of her parents job and once Grace's older brother hit high school their parents promised that they would stay in one place until Grace herself graduated. But then this job to work in the Hong King came up and apparently the offer was one of those once in a lifetime kind of things and Grace's parents broke their promise. They had rented out their home back in D.C. and packed up all of Grace's belongings and had a moving company deliver it to her aunt and uncle's house.

"Are you sure?" Nora asked unconvinced that Grace wasn't telling the truth, which she wasn't.

"Yes I'm sure." Grace replied trying to sound as enthusiastic as she could but there wasn't must to be enthusiastic about as Grace was moving to a small town in the middle of nowhere when she had spent most of her life living in cities. She was a born and bred city girl and now she wasn't anymore.

"Nora if Grace says she's fine, then she is fine…" John, Grace's father said as he changed gears and as he did he sighed. "Grace, why is your car so hard to drive?"

"I told you that I should have driven…" Grace stated as she watched her dad, in all his 6ft 2in glory struggle to sit let alone drive her car.

"Firstly Grace you don't even know how to get to Mystic Falls even after all these and secondly I'm not stupid. If I had let you drive, at some point on one of stop points you would have hopped into the car, left mom and I at some diner and we wouldn't even be having this conversation as you'd be halfway on your way to Indianapolis. That's why I'm driving." John explained and Grace didn't say anything as she knew that her father was right as she hadn't exactly been a happy camper when she discovered that she was moving to what could be easily described as the most boring town ever.

"How long until we get there?" Grace eventually asked.

"A little less than half an hour, we're almost there." Nora replied and Grace rolled her eyes, which her mother just so happened to catch. Like she did everything, Grace often thought that her mother had eyes in the back of her head as she saw everything and never missed a beat when it came to her children. "Look Grace I know that you're not thrilled at this but it's a real good opportunity for your dad and I."

"Like I've said before mom it's fine, it's not like I'm not used to packing up my whole life and moving somewhere else for you and dad's career. I have this whole moving down so there's no need to worry, I'll figure everything out once we get there." Grace retorted, sounding much harsher than she had intended. As much as Grace loved her parents and was proud of them and what they did, a part of her did resent all the moving that they had to do because of her parents inability to stay somewhere for more than six years.

"Dad and I decided that after we finish in Hong Kong we won't move anymore and we'll stick in D.C. there will be no more moving after that. I promise." Nora assured Grace who wasn't convinced as her mom had said that exactly same thing more a less when Grace's brother had started high school.

"Mom you don't have to say that, I'll be leaving for college in two years so you and dad can go back to your globe trotting adventures… Just because you have kids doesn't mean you can't live your lives, it'll be like the old times before Virgil and I came along." Grace said as she knew the upside of having people like John and Halinor for parents were the fact that they were active people. Grace couldn't deny that her childhood had been pretty cool and had been filled with a lot of adventures. When you got over the whole constantly moving thing. The rest of the car was pretty much in silence until they pulled up to a familiar looking quaint second story house that Grace was very mush used to and familiar with. Whilst her dad got her two remaining bag out of the car, Grace allowed her mother to drag her up the walkway and onto the porch.

"I know your not happy but be nice." Nora warned to Grace as she knocked on the door.

"It's Uncle Alex and Aunt Lara, I'm always nice to them." Grace retorted just as the front door opened and there stood a woman with long blonde hair, green eyes and an almost identical smile to Grace's mother along with a tall man with dark brown hair with a slightly crooked nose from being broken one two many times. As much as Grace wasn't happy to be here, she was actually pleased to see her aunt and uncle as the seemed to be the sane ones on her mother's side of the family.

"John, Nora and Grace. Come on it…" Alex Portman, Grace's maternal aunt's husband said motioning for them to come in and they all trudged into the foyer and then into the living room.

"Look at you Grace, your getting even more beautiful every time I see you and even more like your mother except for you hair. You have your father's famous hair." Lara said as she hugged her niece and Grace had to admit that her aunt was right, she looked an awful lot like her mother, sharing the same green eyes and nose but Grace had her father's crooked smile and his copper red hair. It was one of those things from his side of the family that reared it's head every couple of generations.

"Thank you." Grace politely said.

"Alex and Lara we can't tell you how much we appreciate you having Grace." John said as he shook Alex's hand.

"It's no problem John, you know Grace has always been welcomed here and the house has been very quiet since Spencer left for college so it's nice to have a teenager in the house again." Lara assured her younger sister, reaching out and taking Nora's hand and gently squeezing it. "Don't worry we've got everything taken care of, Grace is set for school tomorrow and we've got everything covered Nora."

"I know you do, I was just expecting Grace to be the one to leave and not John and I." Nora said and seeing that her mother was starting to get emotional, Grace quietly moved away from her mother. Her mom was a pretty emotional person at times, like when Grace's older brother Virgil left for college two years ago her mom cried for hours. She barely kept it together and as such Virgil had to call everyday for a week to assure their mother that he was fine. The emotional thing was something Grace didn't really get from her mom, although she was prone to the occasional outburst she was more like her dad when it came to being pretty level head emotionally.

"Nora, it's going to be fine and you going to see both Grace and Virgil in a couple of months when they come over and visit you for Christmas and summer. Before you know it those two years will be over and you'll be back here with all of us." Alex assured and Grace just chose to nod along with what her uncle was saying. That seemed to do the trick for a while and Grace's mother cheered up for round about twenty minutes until it was time to say goodbye. Alex was going to drive them to the airport where they would fly out to Hong Kong, later tonight.

"Be good Grace, I don't want to hear that you've been causing any trouble for Paul and Lisa." Nora said and Grace forced a smile on her face, her mother was acting like she was some kind of burden on her aunt and uncle with a behavioural problem, which was the furthest thing from the truth. Grace didn't get in trouble too much and even then it wasn't for anything too serious and most importantly she got good grades.

"I love you mom." Grace said as she hugged her mother, sometimes she was convinced that her mother had been a spy in a past life as her mother was always suspicious of everything that Grace and her brother did.

"I love you Grace, we're going to miss you so much." Nora said letting go as her eyes well up and Lara pulled her over into a hug and Grace couldn't help but notice that her aunt was trying her hardest not to laugh about how emotional her little sister was acting. As her mom was being dealt with by her aunt, Grace's dad stepped forward.

"Billy Bob" Grace began using the cheesy name that she had her dad.

"Mandy May." John replied with a bright smile with that crooked smile of his that Grace was pretty sure that she was mirroring. John opened his arms and Grace walked into him.

"Gracie, I know your mom's already said this but be good. We're gonna miss you, and I know you're going to miss us. We love you, Sweetpea." John said as he placed a kiss on the top of Grace's hand and moments later Nora joined them and already she was crying. The three of them stayed there for a couple of minutes as despite Grace being annoyed by all of this, she wanted to savour these last few moments with her parents. This would be the first time she would be separated from them for more than six weeks.

"Bye!"

Grace watched as her parents left the house with her Uncle Alex and she watched from the living room window as they got into Alex's car and drove off. Already there was the tiniest hint of an ache in her heart but she quickly brushed this off. Like her uncle had said the two years would be over before she knew and they'd all be back together and until then Grace would just have to adjust.

"You okay Gracie?" Lara asked and Grace slowly turned back to face her aunt and she slowly nodded.

"I'm fine, just peachy…" Grace lied and her aunt didn't buy it, not that Grace was really expecting her to. But the whole lying about how she was feeling came so naturally to her that Grace couldn't really help herself. All of this had come years of being upset about her life and feeling that she had to lie about it as not to hurt her parents feelings when she was a child and saw how happy her parents were when they were starting a new job or adventure as they would tell her and Virgil. Her parents loved their job and she wanted them to be happy even if it meant she was unhappy.

"I know this has been hard, you've been travelling with your mom and dad since you were one, moving somewhere and having to pick up on new languages, make new friends and then pack up and leave when you've only just settled in. You've lived in four different continents and within that five countries over a period over fifteen years and I know it was a lot for you Grace. That's not normal and I know that Virgil adjusted to that easier given that he was born whilst your parents were working abroad. You've lived in five different countries in the space of fifteen years and the only upside I can offer to you Grace is that your still in American, there's no new language to learn." Lara offered and Grace couldn't help but smile.

"My parents are the most fidgety people I know and yet they are archaeologists…" Grace couldn't help but notice the irony.

"This all sucks but that's why Alex and I offered to have you stay with us, high school is hard enough with out being in a foreign country and trying to cope with making new friends and applying to colleges thing. High school can be the best years of your life and I just want you to enjoy it Grace without you having to worry about when your going to have to leave to go home." Lara explained and Grace walked over to her aunt and hugged her.

"Thank you."

"Mystic Falls may not be like any of the places your used to be but I think you'll like here it Grace and to help you adjust to all of this, Alex and I have got you something. It's a suspires…" Lara began her eyes lighting up with excitement as she spoke.

"Aunt Lara, you didn't have too, you and Uncle Alex both done more than enough already." Grace modestly said which just caused her aunt to laugh.

"Nonsense, I am fully entitled to spoil my only niece to my hearts content now close your eyes." Lara replied and reluctantly doing what she was told Grace shut her eyes yet she could feel her aunt placing her hand over her eyes. Grace could feel her aunt gently leading her into the room and after a minute there was nothing but silence and the hand was lifted off Grace's face and opening her eyes she saw that her aunt was gone and that she herself was in the kitchen.

"Aunt Lara?" Grace called out but there was no answer and she couldn't help but wonder where her aunt was gone until she noticed that the door leading down to the basement was slightly ajar and the light was on. Moment s later Grace could hear footsteps coming up from the basement stairs and her aunt reappeared holding a chocolate labrador puppy in her arms.

"We knew you couldn't ever have a pet because you never knew when your mom and dad would be offered a job and just decided to up and leave so we thought we'd get you one. Just something to give you a sense of normalcy and help you settle. I hope you don't mind but I could help myself and I named him Rufus." Lara exclaimed as she handed Grace over the puppy and Grace couldn't help but beam.

So what if her workaholic parents were moving around the world? That was nothing new and the fact that Grace had moved to another new place and had to start another new school still wasn't new. Mystic Falls may be a small town and in Grace's opinion the most boring place on the planet and she could say that given all her travels. This was a place were nothing interesting ever happened and now Grace lived her but now she had a dog and that was something. So maybe she wouldn't regard Mystic Falls as a complete write off yet.


	2. Chapter 2

Grace hated the first day of school, which was technically everyone else's second day, but the point was that she hated the first day of school. You'd think given the fact that Grace had done the whole first day thing several times that she'd be a expert at it. But no. Grace sucked at first day because it involved standing up in front of a bunch of people she didn't know and being forced to talk about herself. The a teacher would just so happen to mention that she's moved around a lot and Grace would have to explain that it was because of her parents job and that kind of turned people off. As who wanted to be friends with the girl who going to move away in a year or so. It was just a waste of everyone's time. Then Grace was really bad at making friends and it took a while to make some. Once all that was done it was generally a breeze until her parents announced that they had just gotten a new job and they were moving somewhere outlandish and the whole vicious circle just kept going…

"Grace?"

"Yeah?" Grace called out as she sat at the bottom of the stairs sliding on her shoes, she had a horrendous day at school and she had the biggest jerk for her history teacher who had made a joke about her hair and how red it was. Thankfully it wasn't just her who he picked on but the fact that Mr. Tanner did it on her first day embarrassed Grace and the fact that her face went bright red to match her hair just made it worse. It put her in a rather fowl kind of my mood for the rest of the day and she had sat in the back of every class since her lesson with Mr. Tanner. As soon as school ended Grace had driven herself home and had decided against going out to watch some comet that was going to pass over the town.

"You going out?" Lara asked as she popped her head round from the living room and Grace slowly nodded her head.

"Just to walk Rufus and pick up some more milk, I won't be too long…" Grace replied with a frown as despite her aunt's best efforts to cheer her up with a homemade lasagne and ice-cream for desert she was still in a pretty fowl mood. It was days like these that Grace hated her parents for not being content in staying in once place and forcing her to move every time there were in need of a new adventure as they called it. Grace had gotten sick of doing the whole new school and making new friends just to leave them by the time she was ten. The only upside to this was that Grace was staying with her aunt and uncle this time and she didn't need to learn a new language.

"Your dad just an email, him and your mom have arrived safely and on their way to the new apartment." Lara told Grace.

"That's nice, will you tell dad that I'll call them tomorrow?" Grace asked as she wasn't in the mood to talk to her parents after the day that she had just given that she had blamed them. So they would just have to cope with talking to Virgil for now until she felt up to talking to them. Once her shoes were tied up, Grace put the leash on a very excited Rufus, who seemed to be the only decent thing in Grace's life at the moment and the two of them left the house. It seemed like walking for a bit would do her a bit of good, it gave Grace a chance to reacquaint herself with Mystic Falls and a chance to clear her head as right now she didn't think that she was in that much of a great place. She was in that awkward place and she felt alone and she wanted to go home. Not to her aunt and uncle's house but to her home back in D.C. the house which her parents had brought after they had returned from New Zealand with a four month old baby Virgil. It was their family home, where they lived when they were actually living in America.

Twenty minutes later and a still happy Rufus and miserable Grace later, the two of them were walking home with the milk they had set out to buy. As they walked Grace was so caught up in being miserable and sulking that she dropped her purse and she looked at it for a moment before picking it back up. Once she did Grace stood up and she got the fright of her life when she saw some a really good looking guy and Grace meant really good looking guy who was tall, dark and handsome with wild black hair and piercing blue eyes standing right in front of her, to the point where Grace pretty much jumped out of her skin. "Geez…"

"Sorry didn't mean to scare you Red…"

"Are you sure about that? Because it kind of seemed like you did as you don't sneak up on people unless you want to scare them." Grace retorted as she felt her heart restarting and then she realized what she had just said. It was the stupidest thing she could have possible have said and she had no idea why on earth she had just said that. But the guy just smiled at her with a smile that seemed so breathtaking that it would make a girl agree to do anything if he looked at her with that smile.

"Quite sure about that."

"Umm… right, okay then." Grace said not really sure of what else you could say to the handsome guy that she had just basically accused of sneaking up on her more the less. Grace mentally scolded herself and told herself that she needed to stop looking at the man because of how good looking he was. Generally Grace wasn't the kind of girl to lose her head of a boy and she wasn't about to start now.

"You can relax, I'm not a serial killer. The name is Damon." Handsome stranger began. "Damon Salvatore."

"Do you think that telling me that your not a serial killer is going to convince me your not one Damon? If anything you've just made me think that you are one. As you don't say things to people like especially when you meet them after you scared the life out of them as that makes the said person think that you are a serial killer. And just so you know in case you are actually a serial killer I know self defence." Grace couldn't help but state just in case this Damon got any ideas, Grace was the only girl born into her family as of late and on her father's side of the family she had three uncles. All of which were Irish and knew how to throw their fists about which had been passed down to her. Damon just smirked at her and Grace wasn't exactly sure why he was. She wasn't being funny yet she was somehow amusing him or he could be thinking she was out of her goddamn mind.

"We seem to have skipped the part where you tell me your name because you seem to think that I'm a serial killer." Damon said and Grace couldn't help but sigh, no doubt Damon had just ignored everything that she had just said.

"Well that's because you brought up the serial killer thing and didn't you ever get told never to talk to strangers? Because I know I did." Grace retorted knowing fill well that she sounded like a hypocrite as she had just lectured Damon about speaking to strangers and yet she was talking to him.

"I may have heard that somewhere but this is Mystic Falls."

"And?" Grace demanded as just because they were Mystic Falls which was no doubt the most boring town in her opinion it didn't mean that things might not happen. There could be bad people living here for all Grace knew or this was one of those towns that you found in those freaky horror films. Grace highly doubted this as something would actually have to happen here but she was just trying to make a point here.

"Are you always this… Paranoid?" Damon asked.

"No. I think you seem to bring it out in me when you approached me and told me that you weren't a serial killer. It kind of got me a bit defensive and considering this very bizarre conversation I think I'm going to be on my way…" Grace began before stepping to the side and starting to walk away but a hand on her wrist pulled her back. "What now?"

"Nice dog, what's his name?" Damon questioned and Grace couldn't help but glance down at Rufus who was looking up at them both and wagging his tail in an excited manner. She knew Damon hadn't stopped her because he wanted to know Rufus' name as he could have asked earlier before he casually mentioned to her that he was not a serial killer. But she found herself entertaining him because he seemed rather interesting and Grace hadn't met many guys who used the line 'I'm not a serial killer' to start a conversation. It was kind of amusing and making Grace's very bad day a tiny bit better not to mention that Damon was very nice to look at despite the fact he was definitely a few years older than her. But anyway Grace wasn't looking for a boyfriend as they were just something she didn't need as it was never going to last. She was only going to be here for less than two years before she went off to college. Grace didn't even know why she was associating Damon and boyfriends as she didn't know him and like she had said previously Damon was definitely a few years older than her and she wasn't looking for a boyfriend. Plus given how good looking he was, there was problem some huge flaw to him as no one was that good looking with

"You stopped me because you wanted to know the name of my god? Really? I find out that hard to believe, but if you must know it's Rufus because according to my aunt he looks like a Rufus." Grace explained narrowing her eyes ever so slightly at Damon.

"Okay you caught me, I'm more interested in your name than your dog's." Damon admitted and Grace couldn't help but quietly laugh

"You don't give up do you?" Grace questioned as Damon was quite determined to get her name for some reason. Grace wasn't exactly sure why as she was just your plain everyday boring girl, there was nothing unique or special in the slightest. Except maybe the red hair but she wasn't the only red hair girl in the world and Grace highly doubted that she was the only red head in Mystic Falls. She knew the town was small but it wasn't that small.

"Not when your making it so difficult for me to just get your name." Damon retorted.

"Did you ever think that I may just be a difficult person."

"Yeah I'm starting to get that actually. Very difficult with giving out your name so I think I'm just going to have to call you Red until you decide to give it up." Damon announced and Grace couldn't help but roll her eyes. She had barely known Damon for five minutes and already he had given her a nickname. Grace didn't know what to make of that.

"Really used your imagination with that one." Grace couldn't help but point out, the nickname Red was that clever and it was a clear reference to her hair. It was far different from the joke that Mr. Tanner had made about Grace's hair earlier. It was actually a good natured one that Grace didn't mind as she was kind of sensitive about her hair.

"I can see your really impressed by it." Damon retorted.

"So since we're at an impasse over the name thing over me telling you my actual name which you've kind of resolved for the time being with this whole Red nickname, can I go? Got places to go and got to go talk to my friend Charles about serial killers. You may know him, Charles Manson?" Grace said and it caused Damon to laugh after he got over the initial shock.

"Oh yeah, we go way back." Damon said as he let go of Grace's arm and turned around and started to walk away. "Catch you later Red!"

"What a strange yet good looking man…"


	3. Chapter 3

Grace couldn't help but replay her strange encounter with the mysterious Damon last night over in her head the next day at lunch. It was the weirdest encounter that she had ever had with a person but yet somehow it had made memorable for her. Damon with his good lucks and cocky attitude had made her laugh, talking to her in an attempt to try and learn her name which he still didn't even end up getting. Her conversation with had cheered Grace up considerably and so the next day at school she felt better. She had even walked into Mr. Tanner's class with her head held up higher and had survived the actual class. Things were staring to look up vaguely for her but Grace wondered how long this would last as she sat outside and ate her lunch.

"Grace?" A voice called out and looking up from her salad Grace saw a girl, with long brown hair with warm brown eyes dressed very casually making her way towards her with a small smile. Grace knew she knew this girl from somewhere but she was having a tiny bit of trouble placing her. Although Grace was certain that she didn't know the guy with her, who was in her history class who Mr. Tanner had been giving grief to instead of her today. "I don't know if you remember me as it's been a few years but I'm–"

"Elena. Elena Gilbert, of course I remember you. How could I not? Wow… it's been a while but it's good to see you again." Grace said with a small smile as she got up from her seat and hugged Elena once she actual recalled Elena. Grace knew Elena from the summers she and Virgil used to spend here. Most of the time they were living abroad Grace's parents would send her and Virgil back over to America for the summer to spend with their aunt, uncle and cousin in Mystic Falls and Elena's family lived a few doors down from Grace's aunt and uncle's house and they had become summer friends. That was until they were both twelve, well that was the last time they had seen each other as that was when Grace's family had returned back to the US in time for Virgil to start high school until now.

"It's been four years Grace." Elena replied before glancing over at the guy who she was with who Grace noted was the typical tall and brooding type, not to mention very handsome with his brown hair and dark green eyes. "Oh Grace this is Stefan Salvatore, he's just moved here too and Stefan this is Grace Bishop, we go back as her aunt and uncle live here and Grace used to visit them and we'd hand out with our families. Her uncle and my dad were best friends…"

"It's nice you meet you Stefan." Grace began.

"You two Grace."

"I heard about what happen, I'm so sorry Elena." Grace weakly said and Elena gave her a small smile and Grace figured it wasn't easy for her to talk about as she was in a car accident with her parents. Elena had been the lone survivor as both her parents had drowned.

"Thank you." Elena replied.

"Please feel free to sit and join me." Grace said motioning for the two of them to join her at her table and they both did to Grace's relief, as she wanted to continue to eat her lunch whilst catching up with Elena. It was nice for her to see a familiar face of someone other than a family member as Grace was still getting used to living in Mystic Falls permanently. The quietness was something that

"So Lara came over last week and told me that you were moving here to Mystic Falls for a while as your parents have got a new job and you wanted to stay here, so where are they now?" Elena asked fully aware of how Grace's parents tended to move around a lot of the time because of field projects they had. Although most archaeologist tended to spend most of their time in libraries doing research before they went out into the field. However Grace's parents liked doing the research both at home and then after they arrived at the country where they were going to be working.

"Hong Kong but don't ask me what they are actually doing there as I have no idea but apparently it's something very important and my parents will be there for the next two years. I graduate by then so I figured I'd stay here but my parents didn't trust me enough to stay in D.C. so I was sent here to Aunt Lara and Uncle Alex…" Grace replied with a small chuckle before turning to Stefan to explain as he without a doubt had no clue about what Grace and Elena are talking about it. "My parents are archaeologists and they tend to work more abroad then anything and so I moved a lot around."

"Wow, that's pretty impressive…" Stefan said.

"That's only the beginning of it, if I remember correctly Grace's brother was born in New Zealand, then Grace started travelling with her parents only six months after she was born and they went to Naples and Rome, then nine months in Copenhagen when she was five. Eighteen months in Cairo when she was eight. Then there was then months in Budapest and two and a half years across Australia from the age of ten till she was twelve." Elena explained.

"You'd think. I got to travel the world and go to all these amazing places with my family like how I lived in several different countries and continents and I have citizenship in two countries. But it's not that interesting and my parents are in no way in shape anything like Indiana Jones, they are way more nerdier, obsessive and boring then the action hero. It's pretty boring actually and yet it's a really chaotic life as my parents are always coming and going since they became archaeologists. Longest place they stayed was D.C. for the last six years and now they are off again."

"And you're okay with that." Stefan asked.

"Most of the time I'm not, it's hard moving all the time and leaving friends but that life is my parents livelihood, they've worked so hard to get where they are today and my parents are good parents with the best intentions, wanting me and my brother so see the world. I just sometimes wished they be able to sit still more than they actually do." Grace admitted before deciding to change the subject. "So enough about me and my crazy life, someone tell me something about themselves as I am sick of talking about myself."

"Well I'm trying to convince Stefan to ask Mr. Tanner if he can try out for the football team." Elena said and Grace couldn't help but be surprised as not being quick to make judgement but Stefan didn't seem to be the football type.

"You play football?"

"Off and on, what about you Grace?" Stefan asked and Grace was impressed with the fact that Stefan didn't naturally assume that she didn't play football just because she was a girl.

"Sometimes, I'm more into running than anything but I occasionally play football mostly at thanksgiving with my family but I mainly watch it. Mainly college football as my dad is a die-hard fan of the Georgetown Hoyas but we follow the NFL too, we're big Redskins fans and we go watch them a couple of times a year." Grace explained.

"You're a football fan?"

"I know big surprise for a girl like me but then again I am just full of surprises, although you wouldn't guess that by looking at me." Grace quietly said as people barely saw her and if they did then she was the new girl or the girl who traveled a lot or the foreign American girl, which Grace had been called a few years ago. It was kind of the reason that Grace had always kept her head down at school.

"So how are you finding Mystic Falls? It's one thing visiting here every so often but another to be now living here." Elena asked and Grace actually had to think that through before she finally answered it as she wasn't sure how to put it all into words.

"It's going to take some time to adjust to her as I'm used to living in cities, the last one was a major metropolitan city but I think I'll be okay. I have Lara and Alex here and my brother promised he'll visit when he can. Mystic Falls seems liked a… Nice place. It's really just a matter of trying to fit in and make friends, everyone just seems to know each other and I'm not used to being in such a small town… I feel like a fish out of water and then there's the whole friend thing, Elena you know I'm terrible at making friends because when I finally do I generally have to leave again and I tend not to be able to keep in touch as I move around so often. Whenever I move, I spend half my time worrying about that…" Grace replied with a slight shrug of her shoulders.

"In a small town like this, everyone kinds to know each but don't worry about it Grace especially the friends part as you have me and Stefan now, you'll fit in no time and I'll introduce to everyone else." Elena assured Grace who couldn't help but smile, today was definitely a vast improvement over yesterday. As apparently she now had friends, but how long that would last would remain to be seen. Grace wasn't going to get her hopes up too fast but she couldn't help the small smile that appeared on her face. "Say Grace… what are you doing tonight? Do you have any plans?"

"Nothing much really except for walk my dog and call my parents to check in with how the two of them are settling into their new life in China. Maybe play poker with my uncle. Why do you ask Elena?" Grace curiously asked, not exactly sure where this was leading.

"Well I'm cooking dinner at my house for Stefan and my friend Bonnie so they can get to know each other properly and you should come along as it'll give us a chance for us to catch up with each other and you can meet Bonnie and you and Stefan can bound over your newness. I know you find it hard to make friends, so I want to help with that. It'll be fun I promise." Elena stated and Grace had to admit that the offer was very tempting, it gave her an opportunity to get out the house and socialize with people her own age. Give Grace a chance to make friends and attempt to actual build a life for herself in Mystic Falls. Despite the fact that Grace knew she was going to be here for two years, a part of it still hadn't really sunk in. Apart of her still was worried and metaphorically looking over her shoulder, just waiting for her parents to drop their frequently bombshell that they were moving again. She knew she needed to get over this fear but she had been carrying it along with her for as long as she could remember. But that didn't mean Grace wouldn't try, her aunt and uncle along with her mom and dad had her living in Mystic Falls because they wanted her to be a normal teenager for once. And this time Grace really wanted it.

"Okay I'm in, is there anything else I should bring?" Grace questioned.

"No just yourself, I'm planning on having us eat round about eight so just turn up anytime before then and you know where I live, but if you've forgotten it's only four doors up from your aunt and uncle's house." Elena instructed and Grace couldn't help but laugh.

"I'll be there."


	4. Chapter 4

It seemed like her parents sending Grace to Mystic Falls based on her aunt's offer was actually a good thing. Grace may have complained about Mystic Falls being a boring town with nothing to do. But as her time went on, Grace realized that it was a good thing. She had spent most of her time in exotic and famous locations leading a slightly less normal life than offers so being in this small town would probably do her good. Such as going to this little dinner at Elena's house, it was kind of awkward at first as it seemed like Bonnie was a bit hesitant to engage with Stefan, kind of reminding Grace for herself. And Elena was trying in vain to lighten up the mood, not that Grace could really blame her as judging by the impression that she had gotten from Elena and Stefan the rest of the school day, they may or may not be dating each other. And it was easy for Grace to figure out that Bonnie was the best friend who was a bit reserved when it came to the new boyfriend.

"Bonnie why don't you tell Stefan and Grace about your family?" Elena prompted and Grace nodded her head in agreement as she wanted to hear about someone else. As per usual being the new girl Grace was forced to talk about herself and she was kind of sick of it.

"Um, divorced. No mom. Live with my dad."

"No, about the witches. Bonnie's family has a lineage of witches. It's really cool." Elena explained and Grace was really impressed with that as it wasn't something that you heard everyday. It definitely beat talking about school and how much of a jackass Mr. Tanner was.

"It's nothing, nowhere near as interesting as the fact that Grace has lived all around the world. My family pales in comparison to that…" Bonnie said trying to convince them all otherwise but Grace was having none of it. In terms of her actually family history the Bishop's and Hagen's there was nothing really interesting. An odd relative here and there who had done something really great or something very stupid, usually the latter

"That is really cool Bonnie and way more interesting that my crazy parents, I'd take witches over archaeologists everyday." Grace couldn't help but point out.

"Cool isn't the word I'd use." Bonnie wearily said.

"Well, it's certainly interesting. I'm not too versed, but I do know that there's a history of Celtic druids that migrated here in the 1800s." Stefan stated and Grace nodded her head as if she knew what Stefan was talking about as she really didn't know the history of this town yet, she could tell you the history of practically every place her parents had dragged her long to but not Mystic Falls.

"My family came by way of Salem." Bonnie added and Grace was bowled over as being descended from witches was one thing but Salem witches was something else entirely. Everyone knew about the Salem witch trials and the fact that Grace now knew someone who was related to people had apparently been there at the times at the witch trials was amazing. This kind of stuff you didn't come across, following your parents around the world to dig sites.

"Really? Salem witches?" Stefan asked

"Yeah." Bonnie murmured.

"I would say that's pretty cool." Grace said.

"Really? Why?"

"Salem witches are heroic examples of individualism and nonconformity." Stefan explained and Grace could see that his opinion and knowledge on witches especially the Salem witches had impressed Bonnie quite a bit. And her included, Stefan really seemed to know his history which Grace already kind of knew as he had shamed Mr. Tanner in class today with his knowledge of historical dates.

"Yeah, they are." Bonnie eventually replied and they all quietly laughed as they continued to eat their food and the awkward vibe seemed like a distant memory now much to Grace's relief. The mood was light and they were all starting to have a really good time and be comfortable together with the conversation freely flowing when the doorbell went and Elena excused herself to go get it and moments later Grace heard the voice of Caroline, another one of many friends or potential friends who she had met today and Caroline just so happened to be the Sheriff's daughter whose husband had left a little while back for another man. Grace was quickly learning that things in Mystic Falls weren't as boring as she tended to think they were. As she took a sup of her water Grace couldn't help but notice Stefan frown and get up and follow Elena to the front door.

"Is there some kind of problem at the door?" Grace couldn't help but ask as she didn't understand why it took two people to answer the door and why it was taking along.

"Caroline's turned up with her apparent new boyfriend Damon, the one she spent most of the morning with before turning up for gym." Bonnie quietly said and Grace quickly recognized the name as the guy she met last night who wanted to know her name and brought up serial killers of all things. Well unless there were several Damon's in Mystic Falls, Grace was going to assume that these two Damon's were one in the same. She was surprised to hear that he and Caroline were dating given that there was a slight age difference but then again guys like Damon, who had that mysterious yet dangerous bad boy thing going were never lonely for long.

"Okay… And what's so bad with that?" Grace asked.

"Nothing I guess, it's just that Damon is Stefan's older brother and apparently they don't get on too well." Bonnie announced and Grace was pretty sure that her jaw had dropped to the ground, as Damon was actually Damon Salvatore and the brother of Stefan. Grace certainly didn't see that one coming because as far as she could tell the two of them looked nothing alike. Grace had no idea how to even respond to this but she was spared from it as like he knew they were talking about him, in strolled Damon into the kitchen followed by Caroline was holding a cake followed by Elena and an annoyed looking Stefan. Grace couldn't help but think that this was going to be interesting.

"Hi, we brought desert!" Caroline said in a bright manner but Grace couldn't help but glance over at Damon, this was the second time in two nights that he had just come out of nowhere. Grace couldn't help but note that he was even more better looking than she had remembered given she had met him when it was dark. But that wasn't the important thing here.

"Hey…" Grace replied, finding that was the only thing that was actually able to come out of her mouth.

"Well if it isn't my little friend from the other night, I've been worrying about you Red…" Damon said and Grace decided to give Damon her most unimpressed look as Damon seemed like the kind of person who didn't worry about thing, especially a teenaged girl who he had ran into last night.

"Damon you know Grace?" Caroline couldn't help but ask and Grace couldn't but frown as now Damon knew her name, which she didn't really want him to have. And she couldn't help but notice the amused smirk that was plastered on his face yet again. Damon seemed awfully pleased with himself for learning her name which Grace really didn't understand but then again she was still trying t deal with the fact that Damon and Stefan were related to each other.

"Grace? That's your name? Interesting, it suits you but I think I'll stick to calling you Red…"

"I find that hard to believe." Grace finally replied, not liking the way that had sounded coming from Damon before turning to Caroline. "We met briefly last night when I was walking my dog, Damon here thought my dog was cute and wanted to know his name."

"And how is Rufus?" Damon asked.

"Peachy." Grace replied.

"Well since you know everyone, the only person left to really introduce you to is Bonnie." Caroline said motioning at Bonnie and Damon glanced over at Bonnie briefly and smiled before returning his gaze over to Grace and she promptly looked away from him. Grace really didn't like the way that he was looking at her as it was weird and slightly inappropriate. Rising from her seat Grace walked over to Caroline and took the cake and offered to cut it up in order to serve to everyone and Damon volunteered to help as well whilst everyone else headed to the kitchen much to Grace's initial shock. And she no idea what to do or say to the incredibly handsome guy who seemingly keeps popping up everywhere especially when they were left alone in a kitchen together.

"I noticed you lied to everyone about what happened last night." Damon pointed out.

"I didn't lie I just omitted things out because I didn't want to tell everyone that you snuck up on me and scared the life out of me when you appeared out of nowhere and wanted to started a conversation." Grace corrected

"So you were scared last night?" Damon asked and the amusement was all too clear in his voice.

"Well one would be when a strange man sneaks up on them and then decided to tell some girl he's just met that he's not a serial killer. You know that kind of stuff kind of sets alarm bells off Damon." Grace retorted, immediately regretting what she said as Damon came over and practically stood right on top of her more a less. With her chest being like an inch away from his and when Grace looked up, there Damon was with his mesmerizing piercing blue eyes. There was no denying that he was looking at her.

"Is that so?" Damon asked and with him looking straight at her, Grace couldn't move as it was literally like her feet were stuck to the floor. They were like that for god knows how long until Grace finally recovered and pulled herself together and pushed Damon squarely back.

"Personal space? I take it you haven't heard of it much? Along with the whole sneaking up on people thing as well." Grace said moving away from Damon as she felt herself starting to get all hot and flustered which was quite new to her. It made her realize that she really did not like Damon and after today she was going make sure she was never left alone with him. Damon laughed as he handed Grace a knife to cut the cake with and she decided to take a different approach with things and find out what was the deal with the elder Salvatore brother. She wanted to make him the uncomfortable one, not her. "So you and Caroline, huh? I wonder what Sheriff Forbes will think about you dating her sixteen year old daughter… Because I'm not sure what you and Caroline are doing is even legal."

It was clear Damon wasn't expecting that as the surprise was clear on his face until he quickly covered it up with a smirk. "Why are you so interested?"

"I'm really not as what you and Caroline get up to is your own business, however at risk of sounding like a hypocrite… The first time I saw you I knew you were the kind of guy who likes to use girls and just fling them away once you're done with them. I could ask you but I am certain that you Damon have left a trail of broken hearts in your time and Caroline's my friend and I granted that I've only know her a few hours I don't want to see her get hurt."

"You know you're kind of mean." Damon stated.

"So my mother tells me but you didn't answer my question and I think your blatant attempt to change the subject with another question confirms my answer." Grace nonchalantly replied as she started putting pieces of cake onto plates and napkins.

"It wasn't a question but rather a statement Red but are you sure it's not because you're jealous because I wouldn't blame you if you were?"

"Of what? A man in his twenties who likes to creep up on teenage girls before going on to hook up with another one. No I'm not jealous Damon, probably the furthest thing from it as guys like you are really not my kind. As girls like me aren't interested in guys like you so whatever you're doing stop it already as I won't lose my head and become a lovesick teenager over you of all people." Grace

sarcastically commented as she hated men who thought they were god's gift to women and clearly Damon thought that of himself. "Is it that hard for you to get a date or a hook up that you have to go through your teenage brother's friends? Because you know there are people you can hire for that?"

"Scratch that you are really mean." Damon replied and Grace quietly laughed as she casually shrugged her shoulders.

"Only to really weird older guys such as yourselves, but why do you care Damon? You have Caroline as we've already established…" Grace questioned as the two of them just looked each other in the eyes and it was clear that she had kind of backed Damon into a corner as he had no response to this. Grace wasn't even sure whether or not she was relieved that he couldn't answer her question. But she was going to leave it like that as she was not going to go down a certain road with Damon as it was going to led her into nothing but trouble.

"What on earth is taking the two of you so long? Seriously it doesn't take that long to cut a cake." Caroline demanded as she walked into the kitchen and Grace quickly looked away. Grace couldn't help but think speak of the devil and he doth but it was more like Damon was the lecherous devil. Grace told herself that she would keep a close eye on Caroline, whether or not it was because of what Damon had said to her, she wasn't sure but Grace had a feeling that she'd be seeing him around a lot more.

"Sorry Red was having trouble cutting the cake and so I had to take over." Damon told Caroline much to Grace's horror as now he was trying to make her look incompetent.

"We're going to have to find you a boyfriend Grace, can't keep counting on my one to save the day." Caroline said as she kissed Damon lightly before taking two plates and walking out of the kitchen and Grace just rolled her eyes. There was no way she'd let Damon ever save her as he was no one's white knight.

"What is it with the Red thing? You know my real name now so you can stop with calling me Red." Grace couldn't help but point out as Damon had only started calling her Red because she wouldn't give him her name. And Caroline had solved that problem when she told Damon, Grace's actual name.

"Well I could but I actually think I prefer the name Red to your actual name and a nickname is easier to remember as there are so many girls and so little time to remember all their names." Damon said in a cocky manner and Grace knew he was doing this to annoy, he was doing all of this to rile her up. "And I can't help it if the nickname oddly fits you like a glove given your hair colour."

"Don't even think about going down that road of telling red head jokes as trust me there's nothing that you could say that I haven't heard before. I've heard them all as has every other red head since the beginning of man." Grace firmly stated as her biggest peeve was people making jokes about her hair and other red heads. None of the jokes were originally and she had been compared to Little Orphan Annie and Pippi Longstockings way too much for her liking.

"Your temper matches your hair." Damon said with a small smirk and Grace opened her mouth to argue back but words just failed her when out of nowhere was standing dangerously close to her. Him standing that close made Grace's mind go blank as Damon's hand was touching her hip, the close contact was making her heart beat every so faster and him touching her was sending these little tingles up and won her body. Grace looked at Damon, her eyes briefly wondering down to his lips but then she remembered where she was and more importantly who she was with.

"Keep your hands to yourself Damon or I'll make you!" Grace hissed as she pushed Damon away again as she had no idea where what had just happened had come from. There was something about Damon and his good looks that was messing with her head and Grace didn't like it at all. She needed to remind herself that Damon was a bit of a jerk with a girlfriend and she had no interest in him in the slightest. The only seemingly good thing about Damon was that he had a pretty face to look at and that was about it. A smirk appeared on Damon's face as he leaned forward close to Grace's ears.

"Pretend all you like but girls like you wish you could meet men like me and I'm going to prove it to you Red." Damon whispered and Grace could feel her cheeks beginning to tint red.

"You should go… the others are waiting." Grace said, her voice surprisingly horse and Damon stepped back and smirked at her before picking up two plates of cake and walking away. "That was too close for comfort…"

"You okay Grace?" Bonnie asked as she came into the kitchen giving Damon an odd look as he walked past her and Grace nodded for Bonnie's sake more than her own as like hell Grace was okay. She had been here for two nights now and she had just avoided getting herself into a mess with her friend's boyfriend.

"Peachy, everything's just great." Grace lied as she picked up a plate of cake for Bonnie and herself and plastered a smile on her face as she prepared to go into the living room and join everyone else, not to mention Damon.

"Well if you're sure…" Bonnie said as she took a plate from Grace and headed back into the living room and Grace waited until Bonnie was gone until she let out a deep breath she didn't know she had been hiding. Grace reminded herself that Damon was an ass, a complete and utter ass whose dating Caroline I repeated to myself. And that he was nothing more than just a pretty face who had no manners. Most importantly Grace told herself that she would prove him right that girls like her didn't fall for idiots like him. Grace Bishop would not fall for Damon Salvatore even if he was the last man on earth. And for her sake Grace hoped he wasn't.


	5. Chapter 5

All around Grace was quiet chatter but at the table she saw sitting at with Matt and Tyler, there was just silence as the three of them struggled to come to terms with what happened tonight. Mr. Tanner was dead, killed by some wild animal that had somehow found him alone and attacked him at the pep rally for the upcoming football game. Matt had been the one to find his body and after he had finished with the police Grace suggested that they go get a coffee to help with the shock and Tyler had asked if they had joined them. None of them could make sense of how Mr. Tanner was killed in such a public place but they figured they might as well be together at least although Grace did wish that there was something a bit stronger in Matt's coffee as he looked like he needed a strong Irish coffee. Poor boy was so shaken up and Grace couldn't blame him, she had been devastated several years ago when she had found her hamster Mr. Pickles dead in his cage and he was only a hamster! God knows how Matt felt given hat he had been the one to find their history teacher and coach of the football team.

"How you doing Matt?" Grace asked as she took a sip of her coffee and watched as Matt sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

"I really don't know, I still can't believe that Mr. Tanner is dead as at first I didn't even realize what was happening, I just went outside to go get him and I thought I saw him but as I got further I realized that something was wrong and I had to call for help…" Matt wearily said and Grace placed a comforting hand on his arm, she thought it was going to take sometime for it to really sink in that Mr. Tanner was dead, not just for Matt but for them all. Even Grace who had only known the man for three very long days.

"Tough break man." Tyler added and Matt just sighed.

"You know what? It's been a long day and I think I'm just going to head home and try to get some sleep, deal with this all tomorrow." Matt said with a sad sort of smile on his face as he rose from his seat and both Grace and Tyler waved goodbye and waited until Matt had left before they continued to speak.

"What about you Tyler? How are you dealing with this?"

"Better than Matt given that I didn't find Tanner but like Matt said, it's just kind of surreal as Tanner was chewing my ass out of that fight I had with Jeremy Gilbert and then telling me to stop messing around and start getting my ass in gear for the game. Can't really believe it was the last thing he'd ever say to me, I kind of feel bad now…" Tyler said in a rather neutral tone of voice. "What about you Grace? Three days in and someone has died, probably not what you were expecting when you moved here, am I right?"

"That is true and it's not like Mr. Tanner was killed by someone, he was killed by a wild animal right by school. It's really freaky and I have no idea how on earth I am going to explain it my parents, might let my aunt take care of that…" Grace said with a small laugh before taking a sip of her coffee.

"Grace? There's some guy over at the bar whose been looking at you pretty much ever since he got here." Tyler wearily began and he didn't have to say anymore for Grace to have an inkling as to who was staring at her. As he'd been doing it ever since the two of them had met much to Grace's annoyance, she didn't know why he had the need to stare at her. It wasn't like she was overwhelming beautiful, Grace actually thought she was just plain looking and that it was her damn red hair that tended to draw people's attention over to her.

"Let me guess Tyler? Tall kind of guy in a leather jacket, had dark hair, blue eyes and is kind of devastatingly handsome?" Grace question despite being pretty sure that Tyler was talking about Damon but she didn't want to turn around and entertain Damon. She was still trying to figure out what the hell had almost happened between the two of them in the kitchen, which wasn't helped by Damon giving Grace sly winks and occasional winks when she had eventually joined everyone in the living room. When they had decided to call it a night, Grace had all but sprinted back home to her aunts house.

"Yeah, you know him?"

"That's Damon Salvatore, he's Stefan older brother but just ignore him…" Grace advised.

"I don't know about that I think he really wants to talk to you alone, so I'm going to head off. My mom is probably freaking out about what happened to Mr. Tanner and my dad is worrying what's going to happen with the football season, so I'll catch you later Grace!" Tyler said before getting up and leaving Grace all alone and she waited for a couple of minutes before standing up and walking over to the bar to join Damon,

"Hey, so what's with the staring? For some reason you like looking at me which I'll admit that I don't really get and it's not only me whose noticed it but my friends are starting to notice it so you might want to quit with it or stop being as quite obvious with it as the way your going about it, you'd make the worse stalker." Grace said, skipping over pleasantries as she was not in the mood to be making small talk with Damon today of all days.

"I saw you at the pep rally, you were talking with that dark haired kid you were just sitting with. You looked pretty cozy…" Damon said and Grace laughed. She really didn't know what to do except for laugh.

"Tyler Lockwood? He's seeing someone but why does it matter who I talk to?"

"It doesn't."

"Where's Caroline?"

"Who cares?" Damon casually admitted and Grace wasn't even sure of how to respond to this although it did confirm her suspicions of Damon being a real ass and a crappy boyfriend. It made Grace wonder why Caroline was even seeing him but she wasn't going to think about it as she wasn't supposed to be keeping her distance from Damon, which wasn't working out too well. "You've been here for two days and already you're providing a shoulder for the entire football team to cry on. I didn't think you were that easy Red but then again I'm not surprised considering last night…"

"Okay, so things got a bit heated yesterday but it doesn't mean I'm going to fawn over you like some silly little love struck girl. I know better than that and besides your Caroline's boyfriend and how dare you make assumptions like that when you don't even know me." Grace angrily retorted poking Damon repeatedly in the chest for good measure.

"Well if I'm so wrong, then enlighten me Red." Damon quipped and Grace knew that he was doing this simply to get a rise out of her and considering that it seemed like she was the more mature one out of the two of them, she should walk away but for some reason Grace couldn't walk away and let him have the last word.

"If you haven't heard, which would be very surprising considering how small this town is but the football coach was killed tonight at the game and one of my friends was the one to find him. The whole team are kind of upset as no doubt Stefan is so I was trying to help my friends because that's what friends do. Although I doubt you'd have any clue about that." Grace tossed out, sounding way meaner than she had intended to it. But Damon didn't even seem to react to it.

"Why do you care so much?" Damon asked and it actually seems like he's interested but then this is Damon, there's some hidden motive behind everything he says and does. Grace may have known him for a only a few days but she was certain that she was pretty adept at reading him.

"You wouldn't understand Salvatore…"

"Try me." Damon retorted and Grace couldn't actual believe that she was actually going to tell him.

"I've never known consistency in my life or stability as I'm not used to staying in one place for long. My parents are archeologists and they move a lot for work and when I say they move along for work a lot I mean. My parents have lived on every continent except for Antarctica and don't get me started on what countries they've visited. My brother and I traveled along with them from the moment we were born and it sounds exciting but it wasn't really. I've had nine eleven first days of school, as I've had to do the whole standing up and introduce myself to countless strangers eleven different types as over the years I've school twice in the space of one school year. Which makes having friends really hard as I always have to leave."

"That sucks."

Grace slowly nodded her head. "You have no idea what it's like to constantly pack up your things and move away because of things out of your control? My parents were constantly getting new projects and I moved around so much that I couldn't keep friends to save my life. When my parents finally took a break five and half years ago I was twelve years old fresh back from Australia and I had never had a friend for longer than eighteen months. Pretty pathetic until recently, my parents got a new project and my aunt asked to take me in so I could finish high school here in the US instead of Hong Kong. You asked me why I care, it's because Mystic Falls is practically the only real consistent thing in my life. My parents would bring my brother and I here for the summer when we were living abroad. Five summers I spent here staying with my aunt and uncle. I used to think this town was a crappy little town but now I realize I was wrong."

"You sure about that?" Damon asked.

"My childhood was nothing but moving around and watching my parents work all the time. The only person I could ever really depend on was my brother but when I came here for the summer I could be like a normal kid. I even met Elena during those summers and when I came back a few days ago she remembered me. I've never gone back to a place and had a friend remember me. I'm the kind of person people tend to forget but not Elena, she made me feel welcome here and helped me make more friends where I can't even count them on my hands which is a first for me." Grace admitted knowing full well that she sounded crazy.

"Is that so?"

"I'm going to have to do the moving thing again in two years time, it's kind of unavoidable because of college so now I want to do the settles thing for now. Be normal and have friends which means caring about the people here. I don't have my parents and my brother is all the way in New Jersey so the friends I make here are going to be my family. So that means looking out for them and caring. It's one of the things I do best, I care for people to a fault unlike you who seems to display such a blatant disregard for people." Grace stated as she looked Damon directly in the eyes determined to make a point and of course Damon finds this funny and stared right back at Grace.

"You think you've got me so pegged, don't you Red?" Damon asked with a small smirk on his face.

"I think so." Grace quipped and as she did, she noticed that Damon was looking at her in that way of his, the way that was totally impropriate for him to be looking at her given that he did kind of have a girlfriend. "Stop it!"

"Stop what?" Damon asked in an innocent manner as if he had done nothing wrong, Damon Salvatore was most definitely the most handsome guy that Grace had seen in a long time but that didn't change the fact that Grace wanted to tear my hair out every time they had an encounter

"You know what Salvatore." Grace retorted as she watched Damon briefly frown at her. "What?"

"Nothing, never mind…"

"Fine, well this was nice so I'm going to go home now and do something so I'll see you around Damon or better yet I'll see you gawking around." Grace replied before walking past Damon and heading towards the entrance to the grill.

"Hey Red!" Damon called out and for some reason Grace found herself stopping to see what he wanted from her now.

"What?" Grace asked as she turned back around to see what Damon wanted before realizing much to her horror that she had been continuing to respond to Damon whenever he called her Red despite telling him not to call her that silly nickname since he knew her name was Grace now.

"Nice legs." Damon replied with his trademark grin, which caused Grace to roll her eyes. Damon was such an ass! But he was a very good looking ass and he knew it, Grace would have to be very careful around him. First it was her hair and now her legs, Grace could totally see him making a crude comment about her chest tomorrow the rate they were going. Grace had to find a way to nip this thing in the bud before it got any further and any worse than it already was. And people started getting hurt…


	6. Chapter 6

Taking a deep breath Grace had walked down the stairs, she had been invited by Mrs. Lockwood to the founder's party, a very fancy event in Mystic Falls that took place every year to commemorate the history and founding of Mystic Falls. It apparently was a very big and fancy party in town and Grace hadn't been to something this fancy in years especially after she had been in invited by the Mayors wife who was from one of the founding families. For better past of the last five days Grace had been trying to find a suitable outfit to wear as she wanted to make a good impression and kind of fit in as this party wasn't the kind of party you just showed up in a simple summer dress. Actual effort was going to have to be put in and Grace was going to get final approval from her aunt and uncle before she left – really it was just her aunt but her uncle was going to be there too. Well in the living room as in two hours they were leaving for the rest of the weekend to go to a wedding in Richmond. As she reached the bottom of the stairs Grace took a deep breath before she cross the foyer and walked into the living room.

"So what do you think?" Grace asked slowly spinning around so her aunt and uncle could take a good look at her dress. It was a strapless knee length sea foam green colour which had lace on the bodice and the hem line on a dress. It was a nice and simple floaty kind of dress but nice enough that Grace thought that she could she could wear to an event like this.

"You look absolutely beautiful Grace." Alex said and Grace let out a small smile.

"Better than beautiful, you look stunning and that dress look perfect on you." Lara added and Grace felt slightly better as dresses were something that she didn't feel the most comfortable in at the best of times. Especially when her shoulders were bare, making Grace all the more aware of them and the lone freckle that sat on her right shoulder blade.

"Bonnie said the same thing earlier, but I'm still kind of unsure as I preferred the red dress I had but I don't really like wearing a lot of red because of my hair and how bright it can be. I guess I'm in two minds about the whole thing." Grace wearily admitted and her aunt stood up and walked over to Grace and place her hands on her shoulders.

"Firstly you have amazing hair and I wish that I had such a vivid and rich hair colour like you Grace and secondly your not getting changed either as you look beautiful like your uncle said. Your going to go that party, have fun with your friends and break millions of hearts in the process sweetheart."

"Okay." Grace said before taking a deep breath. "Mom called me about an hour ago, I think she's feeling guilty about leaving and then she heard about what happened to Mr. Tanner and according to dad she's been freaking out even after I told her that the animal behind it has been caught."

"You know your mom Grace, give her sometime she's still trying to get used to not having you around." Alex explained and Grace nodded in agreement as she knew that her mother always hard a hard time to adjusting to not having either of her kids around which made her more crazy than usual.

"Have a good time and call us if you need anything." Lara said placing a kiss on Grace's cheek and after waving goodbye Grace left the house. Since she didn't have a date to the party she was going with Bonnie and Elena's aunt Jenna as Elena was going with Stefan and Caroline was taking Damon much to Grace's initial surprise as the Sheriff was going to make an appearance at the party apparently. And as far as Grace knew Sheriff Forbes was none the wiser about Caroline and Damon. Speaking of Damon, Grace hadn't seen him around much since that night Mr. Tanner died and they had that rather frank talk in the grill. Which was kind of a good thing since she found out that Damon and Stefan had this big issue over some girl called Katherine who had died. So since Caroline and Elena were being boring and going with dates, Grace along with Bonnie and Jenna decided to go together and make it a girls night out and just have some fun. Because Grace wanted to spend some time with her aunt and uncle before they left for the weekend, Grace was meeting them there and after Bonnie was going to stay over at Grace's since her dad was out of town.

Twenty minutes after Grace had left home, she arrived at the Lockwood mansion which was a beautiful house and mere moments after she walked in Mayor Lockwood handed her a glass of champagne despite Grace being pretty sure that he was well aware that she was underage. Grace however chose not to point this out and decided to accept the drink as it was the polite thing to do. Aimlessly walking around the house, Grace was very much relieved when she ran into Jenna, one of her two dates. "Jenna!"

"Grace thank goodness I've found you!" Jenna said making her way over to Grace and once she did, she looked over her shoulders several times. "You need to save me!"

"From what?"

"My ex-boyfriend Logan or rather Logan Scumfell as I've now taken to calling him. I cannot and will not be sucked in by him again and to do that I have to avoid him and drink, so if at any point of the night you see me near him or talking to him you must rescue me." Jenna said as she turned Grace around and pointed her in the direction of Logan and Grace could have sworn that he was the news guy of the tv.

"Should I even ask?" Grace couldn't help but question as judging by what Jenna had said, her relationship with Logan Fell clearly didn't end on a good note and Jenna harbored some deep resentment towards her ex.

"Not unless you want to see me get hideously drunk and make a complete ass out of myself and trust me Grace you don't want to see it as it isn't a pretty sight." Jenna wearily said and Grace just laughed as she linked her arms through Jenna's and led her away and out of the direct eye line of Logan. This ended up being a good thing as Grace needed to keep a safe distance away from Damon and she could do that by staying with Jenna all night and keeping her way from Logan. It was a win sin situation for everyone involved and Grace got to spend time with Jenna who had a wicked sense of humor about everything. She was Grace all these stories as they walk around the Lockwood mansion taking in all the items that were on show, providing the odd bit of insight to the town's history as they went along. Jenna seemed more like an old sister than aunt who was raising her orphaned niece and nephew. "I need another drink…"

"You sure about that?" Grace asked.

"Yes I am sure." Jenna replied as unhooked her arm from Grace and walked off in the direction of the bar and Grace laughed as Jenna walked off. Jenna Sommers was a funny woman.

"Hey Red."

Turning to her side Grace saw Damon standing next to her holding out a glass of champagne towards her and reluctantly Grace took it, she was still kind of pissed at him for the insanitation that she was easy especially towards the football team. "What do you want Salvatore?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to talk." Damon replied and Grace rolled her eyes, she wasn't stupid enough to believe that. Things were never that simple with Damon.

"Oh I'm sorry but there's a line for my services apparently there's a whole block of boys lining up to sleep with me because I'm SO easy. So get to the back of the line and I'll get to you once I'm finished servicing the entire football team." Grace sarcastically said, not looking at Damon as she spoke. Instead Grace chose to look at all the people walking around, looking the like they were having a good time and socializing with other people.

Damon laughed. "You're pissed about the other day."

"Damn right I'm pissed." Grace retort as she downed my glass of champagne if she was going to be having this type of conversation with Damon then Grace was going to need to have some alcohol in her system.

"It was a joke."

Grace wearily looked at Damon, wondering if that was his idea of a joke then she dared to think of what his idea of what a good time was. Although it wouldn't be too hard to imagine considering Damon could be the post boy for hedonism after everything Grace had seen him get up to since she had arrived in Mystic Falls. "I wouldn't try stand up anytime soon."

"Would it help if I said if was sorry?" Damon said as he maneuvers himself so that he was now standing right in front of Grace, much to her dismay as there was no way she could avoid looking at him now.

"You don't strike me as the type to apologize for your actions and besides even if you did we both know that you wouldn't actually mean it. So apology not accepted, it is far from being accepted." Grace stated as she eyed Damon carefully before deciding to speak again. "You're some kind of Byronic hero aren't you?"

"Is that so? What makes you think that Red?" Damon questioned and by the way his eyes are lighting up Grace could see that he's enjoying this.

"You're the mysterious bad boy whose strolled into town with a minus zero personality, if you don't mind me being so blunt. You seem intelligent and you have the mysterious and charismatic aura thing going for you but you're also arrogant and disrespectful just to name a few of your bad traits. If you want I could name a few more, well actually several more but then we'd be here all day which is the last thing that I want." Grace replied which just caused Damon to laugh as he took a step closer to her.

"Really? Here I thought of myself as being Prince Charming."

Grace rolled her eyes, somehow she had forgotten how narcissistic he was. "You're delusional if you think anyone wants you as their white knight."

"So what does that make you? A regular femme fatale?" Damon asked and Grace let out what her mother and Aunt Lara would describe as an unlady like snort. Not that Grace really cared right this second as it was laughable for Damon to think that she was a femme fatale. As Grace was the furthest thing from it as she had never even had a boyfriend before so she had no idea where Damon was getting any of his ideas from.

"Me a femme fatale? You have to be kidding me Salvatore I am the furthest thing from being one of those. You must be confusing me with some other red head you've been hanging out with as it sure as hell isn't me." Grace stated.

"You so sure about that Red?" Damon questioned as he looked Grace over in a very inappropriate manner, which was almost flattering in some weird way, but Grace was not doing this again with Damon. He had a girlfriend who was Grace's friend which is why she had been doing her best to avoid him for the last ten days.

"Where's Caroline?" Grace asked trying to get Damon on track, all whilst wondering well the hell Jenna was or even Bonnie; hell Grace would even take Elena and Stefan or even Caroline.

"Don't know and don't care." Damon replied looking Grace straight in the eye and moments later he held out his hand to her and Grace looked at him as if he was having a joke. The two of them dancing and being in close proximity was a bad idea especially after happened in Elena's kitchen almost two weeks ago. There was something about the two of them being in such close contact with each other that just messed with Grace's head and made her feel weird all over. `It made her feel things that she should feel towards Damon which she shouldn't, he was Caroline's boyfriend which meant Grace couldn't be attracted to him. Damon was dating Caroline and he was a pain in Grace's ass but there was just something about him. It went beyond just the two of them standing near each other or the fact that he was always staring at her. Grace couldn't really explain it.

"Shouldn't you being asking Caroline to dance? She is your date after all Salvatore." Grace pointedly asked hoping to deter Damon back to Caroline if she kept bringing her up.

"Shut up and just take my hand Red."

Grace looked at the hand that Damon was still holding out towards her, she knew that this was a very bad idea and that she should say no. Better yet that she should just walk away but she didn't. Rather slowly Grace put her hand in Damon's, swallowing a small lump in her throat as her hand made contact with his and she allowed him to led her through the house to the huge marquee with a makeshift dance floor. Once they were there Grace did nothing as Damon placed his free hand on the lower of her back and pull her in close to him and she felt herself shiver as she felt Damon's breath on her neck. Finally Grace placed her free hand on Damon's shoulder and soon enough they were dancing. As they did Grace realized that this was an even worse idea than she had originally thought as there was no way for her to escape the physical and eye contact. Grace didn't want to focus on the fact that Damon's mere touch was sending tingles down her body so she tried to focus on not blushing and making an idiot of herself. That was until she felt something go further down her lower back and Grace just glared at Damon. Every time Grace felt like she was going into the deep end with Damon, he did something to remind her of how much of an idiot he was and it brought her straight back to reality. "Your hands are wondering dangerously low Salvatore."

"Sorry." Damon said flashing Grace a devious smile and they both knew he doesn't mean it but he moves his hands back up to a slightly more appropriate place but only just board line appropriate. Grace should have seen this coming as Damon may just be the most inappropriate guy she had ever met plus he insinuated that she was some kind of a slut a few days ago so of course he was going to try his luck.

"Whatever."

"You look good Red." Damon stated as he spun Grace around.

"You scrub up okay Salvatore despite your hideous personality." Grace retorted, finally holding her head up over water metaphorically when it came to Damon. She felt in control again and not as exposed as she was previously feeling.

"Do you resent your parents?" Damon asked and Grace wasn't respecting him to bring up her parents of all people right here. For god knows what reasons.

"Excuse me? What's with bringing up my parents?"

"That night in the grill after I insulted you about the football team, you told me about your life moving around constantly because of your parents. It's clear your were unhappy about it so I want to know if you resent them for that." Damon clarified and Grace couldn't believe that he had waited ten days to follow up on that conversation. But to be fair she had been avoiding him since that night, however that didn't mean that she couldn't be surprised about Damon asking about her parents now.

"A little I guess, I'd be lying if I said I didn't as I wasn't a fan over moving constantly and not being settled in one place for longer than five years. Until the age of twelve I was always on the move. It was like that they didn't think about what I wanted and that they were too caught up in their careers to notice me. I was invisible to everyone, no one really saw me. Not the countless people I met whenever I moved or my parents. It was like I was a travel accessory and not their daughter. But don't write them off as they weren't too neglectful, sometimes they'd get too caught up in their work that they couldn't come to my recitals. Apart from that my parents are very good people, my dad is a goofball and is always making people laugh and he's only ever really serious when he's too caught up in work. Then my mom is the weirdest woman I know as she knits all the time and loves to read and we going running together a lot and I can't imagine not having her, she worries too much for my liking." Grace admitted.

"You never told them how you felt about the moving did you?" Damon asked and Grace sighed.

"They knew I wasn't too happy about it but I never put my foot down and threw a tantrum about moving as my parents love doing what they do. My mom has wanted to be an archeologist since she was nine years old and my dad decided his career based on Indiana Jones and the potential to meet hot chicks. As unhappy with that life as I was, as I am… It's my parents livelihood and I love them way too much to get in their way. I want to be happy, achieve their dreams as they have worked their entire lives to get where they are." Grace explained with a small smile. "My dad came all the way over to the US from Ireland to become an archeologist and that says a lot.

"Your Irish? That makes a lot of sense of now…" Damon slowly said with his trademark smirk.

"It does, huh?"

"Yeah it does." Damon chuckled not expanding on the whole Irish thing. "And the red hair? It comes from Ireland too?"

"Well my dad's side as my mother is half Irish on my grandfather's side but anyway, practically everyone on my father's side of the family is a redhead except for my Grandmother Penny and my brother Virgil. The two of them are both blonde but my brother gets it from my mother's side of the family."

"Your brother is called Virgil, seriously?"

"Yes he is. My brother is named after my maternal grandfather Virgil Hagen whose name came from St. Vergilius of Salzburgh an irish born bishop. Virgil is the more modern version of it but anyway it's special to my family so whatever jokes you have about that name keep it to yourself, as I like it." Grace warned and Damon said nothing of it further. "But enough about me, we only seem to talk about me so what about you Salvatore?"

"Well considering where we are Red and if you've even been bothered to check out any of this town's history then you'll known that the Salvatore's are a founding family of Mystic Falls but we do have an Italian descent. But I don't want to talk about me, I know enough about me so lets gets back to you."

"What is this twenty questions?" Grace sarcastically asked.

"Not really. You tell me something and I tell you something." Damon corrected and Grace couldn't help but sigh in amusement, if there was one thing that she liked about Damon other than his nice face then it was the way he kept things interesting.

"Okay… I'm a big Hitchcock fan, my all time favourite's are To Catch a Thief, The Birds, Spellbound and I Confess." Grace began setting things off.

"Intrusting choice, I'd have to say Stephen King's the shining does it for me."

That wasn't too surprising for obvious reason but Grace soon forgot it when Damon asked her what kind of music I liked. "Well being a teenager I listen to a lot of the modern stuff but my real love is old jazz, give me Humphrey Lyttelton, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong anytime but that doesn't mean I'm not partial to the Rat Pack, Bing Crosby and Quincy Jones."

"You have an old soul… Me on the other hand? Not so much, I like Taylor Swift."

The sarcasm was obvious in that but Grace let it go as Damon was behaving himself for the most part and being honest. Since they had done films and music Grace decided to go on to books although the idea of Damon sitting down and reading a book was laughable as he didn't seem to have the patience to sit through a whole book. "My favourite book in the entire world has to be Peter Pan, the idea of never growing up and being a child forever while having countless adventures is something that utterly appealed to me as I was growing up?"

"Because of your own lost childhood?" Damon asked and Grace had to admit that she was impressed with Damon's observation. She had never thought of it like that before.

"I suppose so. In a ploy to sound not so childish Persuasion by Jane Austen comes in at a close second and I also really liked Moby Dick, although it took me a while to finish it." Grace replied excepting Damon to make a joke about her choices but she didn't get the smartass response she was expecting from Damon who instead just looked at me for a few moments before speaking.

"Call of the wild by Jack Landon, you should read it sometime it's a good book."

"Perhaps I might."

Damon smiled at her and Grace just grinned at him. "You know Red, I was expecting you to say that your favourite book was Twilight and that you were madly in love with Edward whats-his-face, not Peter Pan of all things."

There it was. The smart ass response that Grace had been waiting for and Damon didn't disappoint. "Well I've read the books, I won't deny that as probably most teenage girls have read it but I don't know it's just unbelievable to me… Edward just seems to be too perfect to me to ever be real. I'd prefer–"

"A incredibly handsome bad boy with flaws you can pick out and roll your eyes at his vulgar behaviour." Damon announces with an incredibly dazzling smile.

"Your words not mine Salvatore." Grace replied unable to stop herself from laughing despite knowing what his insinuation meant.

"I'll just take that for a yes but don't worry Red, your secret is safe with me."

"Don't put your hopes all on me Damon as you have Caroline and then there is…" Grace said and she stopped herself just before she said Katherine. Since she had last seen Damon, Grace had found out about the infamous ex-girlfriend Katherine who Damon and Stefan both dated. It was complicated to say the least especially since Katherine had been killed in a tragic fire according to the information that Grace had been given.

"You know about Katherine, don't you?" Damon sussed out and Grace tried her best to look awfully guilty. She didn't want to actually talk about Damon because that would have made thing more complicated and ruined whatever this thing with her Damon right now was. Grace had ruined this moment not to mention Damon was going to that Caroline spilled when she wasn't supposed to. Caroline had told Bonnie who had told both Elena and Grace. Thinking of Damon and Caroline, Grace couldn't really see them together and interacting the way that the two of them did.

"Well yeah… There were those tidbits you dropped at dinner a couple of weeks back then was a bit of talking elsewhere which kind of told me the rest as that's what normal people do. We talk about stuff like that and other things." Grace awkwardly said as she had no idea how Damon was going to react to this.

"It's fine Red, you can relax I'm not going to get upset about the fact that you and your friends were talking about Katherine, it just means you were talking about me too which is fine by me." Damon said in an arrogant manner and Grace felt marginally better. "What about you?"

"Oh, I don't date." Grace replied in a very light manner, quietly laughing as she thought about it. Her dating someone was an actual joke.

"I find that very hard to believe."

"Those assumptions of yours are going to get you nowhere and in trouble." Grace told Damon but she couldn't help but notice this distant look in his eyes and it was clear that something had captured his attention and he wasn't listening to her anymore.

"Red, I gotta run but we'll finish this some other time. I had fun…" Damon told Grace, leaning forward and placing a gentle kiss on her cheek before taking off and Grace just stood there. In the middle of the dance floor fingering the place where Damon had kissed her moments before turning two things thorugh her mind. The first, what the hell was that about? And two what did this mean for the two of them? Grace lingered on this for a few moments before she realized what on earth she was thinking. Damon was Caroline's boyfriend and the two of them were nothing and why on earth was she doing things that Grace knew full well would get her into trouble. Grace decided to find Jenna or Bonnie in order to bring herself fully back to reality and she took a step forward. But then Grace could feel the hair on the back of her neck stick up and she knew that Damon was back and standing right behind her, so she tilted her head over her shoulder ever so slightly and there he was.

"I thought you had to go." Grace quietly said.

"I do. I just forgot to tell you something and I think you need to hear it." Damon replied and Grace held his gaze for god knows how long until Damon leaned forward and whispered into her ear. "You are not invisible to me…"

Grace knew she was in a shitload of trouble now.


	7. Chapter 7

Grace felt mentally and physically exhausted as she walked through the front door of her aunt and uncle's house and kicking the door shut Grace wearily dragged herself into the living room. Today had been a usually hard day as she was still dealing from the fall out of what happened at the founders party. Not long after Damon had actually left her, Grace wondered idly round the Lockwood mansion when out of nowhere she was pulled into the bathroom by Elena where an inconsolable Caroline was crying her eyes. Grace had tried to ask Caroline was wrong but she wouldn't say, as according to Caroline when she could crock out a few words she didn't know. But then Elena pointed out the bite marks, the bite marks on Caroline's body which kind of explained the whole crying. And Grace didn't have to ask to know that Damon was behind this. At the time Grace wanted to find him and slap him silly for what he had done but her priority was Caroline. So whilst Elena went to go find Bonnie, Grace carefully got Caroline to her car without anyone noticing and the four of them went back to Grace's. They had taken care of Caroline but when they asked her about what happened and the bites she said she had no idea. It was very weird.

"Hey Gracie, good day at school?" Lara asked as she poked her head through the archway between the living room and the dining room.

"I don't know…" Grace wearily said as she kicked her shoes off and pulled her feet up on to the couch and tucked them underneath her. Her day had been pretty bizarre with the whole Caroline being a very peppy mood despite everything and then the sudden disappearance of both Damon and Stefan. According to Elena, Stefan had left her some vague and cryptic message over the weekend telling her that he was dealing with Damon. That was the only bit that Grace was okay about, that the fact that someone was dealing with Damon because of the things he had done.

"What's wrong sweetie?" Lara questioned as she took a couple of steps further into the room and Grace shook her head.

"Nothing, I'm fine Aunt Lara."

"No your not Grace and you want to know how I know? You and Virgil both do that thing where you crinkle up your nose and furrow your brows together when something is bothering you. It's what your Grandpa Hagen used to do when there was something on his mind." Lara said as she sat down on the couch next to her niece. "So talk to me Grace, tell me what's wrong and maybe your old Aunt Lara can help..."

Grace wasn't even sure hot to begin. As how did you describe Damon Salvatore? It seemed almost impossible as to describe the very attractive man who seemed to like flirting with Grace and get a rise out of her, would be to miss the man who was capable of being honest, sweet and capable of unexpectedly charming. But then that would also be missing the point that Damon was the older, mysterious and dangerous type who was too cocky for his own good and was ruining everything for Grace. Then there was the Caroline thing, which Grace couldn't tell her aunt as Caroline had sworn her to secrecy in fear of her mother finding out despite the fact that Caroline hadn't exactly told Grace anything. "It's complicated."

"Grace your sixteen, everything is complicated but I'm assuming that this has something to do with a boy." Lara stated and Grace sighed, her aunt was so different from her mom given that Aunt Lara actually picked up on things without Grace having to point them out like she had to do with her own mother.

"Isn't there always." Grace eventually stated with a small sigh. "He's older Aunt Lara."

Lara rolled her eyes. "Of course he is.""

"It's very complicated Aunt Lara… This guy is older and not to mention he's Elena's boyfriends older brother and the two of them have some deep rooted problem with each other which makes me and Verge look like we never fought as kids. The guy is an absolute ass, always coming out with comments that are so ridiculous that I'm not sure whether I want to hit him because he had the nerve to say it or slap him silly because how stupid he sounds. But I've pretty much know this since the day we first me…" Grace began.

"But?" Lara prompted picking up something that Grace was leaving out.

"What he lacks in social skills he makes up for in good looks." Grace replied with a sigh as she wasn't stupid – well that was currently debatable - as even in her miserable and guilty self-loathing mood Grace knew that Damon Salvatore was an incredibly handsome man. Grace had told herself that she wasn't going to get mixed up with Damon and she kind of was. Not like Caroline, but enough to unnerve Grace especially since the whole weird biting thing he had with Caroline came to light. It made Grace realize that she had a lucky escape and she now had a real reason to avoid Damon and never talk to him again. If she ever come across him again, Grace swore to herself that she would walk away reminding herself that he had hurt Caroline. No matter how good looking Damon was, he had still hurt Caroline and Grace couldn't excuse that. She had watched Caroline fall apart in front of her own eyes and helped take of her.

Lara seemed skeptical. "He's that good looking?"

"It is ridiculous how good looking one man could be, if you saw him Lisa then you would understand instantly." Grace said nodding her head in a rather slow manner before shaking her head, she needed to stop thinking of Damon and focus on the bigger picture here. "He has the whole mysterious bad boy thing going on and as utterly frustrating as it is, some part of me just can't help but be drawn in… Well that is before he opens his mouth, the guy cannot simply control himself when it comes to behaving himself in public."

"He can't be as bad as you make it sound like Grace."

There are some exceedingly rare moments when he behaves himself and we've had some _moments_ but other than that the guy is a hedonistic moron with not once ounce of decency. I'm kind of trying to keep him at arms distance because things never end well when he's closer than that." Grace told her aunt as memories of the encounter she had with Damon in Elena's kitchen resurface and Grace could feel herself blush to the tips of her hair. Look back at that moment Grace was pretty sure that's when her attraction to Damon really kicked in and the fact that they argued so much fuelled it even further. So her no longer talking to Damon was sure to nip whatever attraction she may have for him in the bud.

"You like him." Lara slowly said after a moment as a look of realization hit and Grace rolled her eyes as she didn't like where this was going in the slightest. Her aunt had now convinced herself that Grace liked Damon which was the furthest thing away from the truth. Given that most of the time the two of them could barely have a civil conversation with each other without an insult or two being thrown in.

"No I don't."

"Yes you do!" Lara squeaked in an excited manner.

"No I really don't Aunt Lara, for me to like him there would have to be something nice about him to like in the first place and trust me there isn't. All this guy is, is a pretty face with a cocky attitude and terrible people skills." Grace firmly stated with a small frown on her face.

"Well at the very least your attracted to him and don't you dare think about lying to me about this Grace as it's pretty much written all over your face." Lara quipped with a wide smile on her face and Grace chose not to say anything as her aunt did have her there. "So this guy you're attracted to? Tell me more, I want to hear all about him."

"That's the thing Aunt Lara I don't really know anything about him and I'm not going to. I've kind of decided to, well not kind of but I've decided that I'm not going to see or talk to him anymore." Grace announced sounding more confident that she actually felt as there was some part of her that knew that she couldn't avoid Damon forever as if he wanted to see her then he would figure out somewhere of seeing. God knows how but Grace knew that Damon had his ways of skulking around and sneaking up on people when they least suspected it. After all that was how the two of them had met.

"Why not Grace? You like this guy, correction you're attracted to him so why can't you see him? I'm not suggesting you marry the guy Grace, just don't get pregnant. Nora- I mean, your mom would kill me if you did. But you are allowed to date and have a normal life, that is why you are here." Lara encouraged and Grace just shook her head, whilst she loved her aunt dearly, she would never really understand.

"He hurt someone I care about Aunt Lara, he's not a good guy and I kind of suspected that when we first me but then he did something to prove that he was just the person I thought her was…" Grace wearily noted as her mind wondered back to Caroline.

"Are you sure?"

Grace sighed. "I'm not sure about anything with this guy…"

"Then why are you so certain that you can't see him again? Maybe he's not the bad guy you think he is. Maybe it's just an act, I can tell you many a stories about your Uncle Alex before I got my hands on him and shook some sense into him." Lara couldn't help but point out

"There's more to him than meets the eyes Aunt Lara, he has this ability to make me stop thinking at certain times when he looks at me in a certain way and I lose the ability to lose the ability to string along a coherent sentence. Then the night of the founders party he told me something that I still don't know what quite to make of." Grace said referring to Damon's whole telling her that she was not invisible to him. That was quite a head turner as generally guys like Damon didn't see girls like Grace as she was the plain jane kind of girl who no boy ever wanted to date. But yet he saw her and went to a seemingly amount of effort to get her attention… Grace really didn't understand it in the slightest. "It's more complicated than that Aunt Lara and whilst I don't think he's the serial killer who sneaks up behind you and hits you over the head with a shovel but there is something definitely about him and it's not a good thing…"

Lara laughed and Grace just narrowed my eyes at her as she didn't see what was particularly funny about this situation as she was in the middle of a huge problem. "Grace, you like him and it sounds the feeling is mutual… why don't you just do something about it? Just because you're in a small town doesn't mean you can't have a little fun…"

"Because I told myself I wouldn't be another one of those girls who fawn all over guys like him and end up being tossed away once he's done with me and no offense Lisa but your way of thinking will get me into more trouble than I already I am."


	8. Chapter 8

Sexy Suds Carwash. It was without a doubt the most stupidest thing that Grace had ever heard, it was some stupid fundraising idea to raise money for the athletic department. Grace wasn't on any of the athletic teams but Caroline had some how got Grace down to the school car park on a Saturday morning to wash other people's cars for the majority of the day. Grace wasn't exactly impressed with this as she had other things to be doing with her time but Caroline wasn't getting pretty good at guilt tripping Grace into doing things she didn't want to do. It was always because of the night at the founders party, whenever Caroline asked Grace to do something she couldn't help but think back to night. Seeing Caroline so upset and crying because of whatever it was Damon had done to her. Grace had no idea how to fix Caroline after what happened as she had no idea what had exactly gone on and Caroline was kind of in denial about the whole thing, being her normal bright and happy self. But Grace figured if that's what it took for Caroline to get over what had happened then she'd go along with it, after what happened Grace wanted Caroline to be happy and forget about Damon Salvatore.

"Remind me again why you think I should take part in this?" Grace asked waving her hand towards the banner for this sexy suds car wash that Caroline had got her to turn up to, with a bikini on underneath her clothes much to Grace's amusement. She had wanted nothing to do with this and yet Caroline had somehow managed to get her to show up, it was actually pretty impressive the pull that Caroline Forbes had.

"Because Grace, we're raising money for the athletic department– " Caroline began

"And I repeat for what may just been the 100th time this week Caroline, how does that concern me? I'm not involved with the athletics department at all, the only reason I'm ever there is for gym." Grace questioned as she looked around uneasily at all the half dressed teenagers who were around.

"Grace, where is your school spirit?" Caroline demanded reminding Grace of her mother as she placed both her hands on her hips and donning the whole intimidating authority pose.

"I don't have any."

"What do you mean you don't have any? Everyone has school spirit?" Caroline questioned.

"Not when you're constantly moving around, you know I've spent my life moving around and if I'm not moving then I'm waiting for the next project my parents have to move for. I don't have any kind school spirit because I've never stayed at the same school years for more than two years." Grace explained hoping that Caroline would leave her in charge of the money instead of actually washing any cars.

"That's very sad." Caroline told Grace as she put her arm over her shoulder and Grace didn't like the smirk that appeared on her friend's face. "So we're going to change that because I'm going to make these next two years the best years of your life Grace Bishop. By the time I'm done with you Grace you'll be radiating with school spirit! So much so I will have you in a cheerleading uniform by the end of the year!"

"Caroline, I don't feel comfortable parading around half naked and exploiting my body just in order for someone to give me their car to wash. I don't think feminists fought for equal opportunity's and burned their bra's for this." Grace replied and Caroline chose to roll her eyes.

"Please… for me?" Caroline pouted and Grace immediately feel bad and knew that there was no way that she was getting out of this. Caroline had pulled right in and was guilt tripping Grace into staying and participating in this event no matter how silly she found it.

"I can't do sexy Caroline!" Grace woefully admitted as she caved and Caroline's face just lit up and before Grace knew what was happening, Caroline was pulling her t-shirt up and tugging it off her head to reveal the navy bikini that Grace was wearing underneath. Grace felt very uncomfortable and exposed with the urge to pull her t-shirt back on but Caroline looked so happy and Grace couldn't bring herself to spoil that. She needed to get back to normal and into her routine now that Damon had left town and wasn't going to hurt her anymore. "Are you happy now Care?"

"Well I would be if you take off those shorts!" Caroline quipped.

"These stay on Caroline! You managed to get me half naked in front of a lot of people I don't know but I am not taking off my shorts!" Grace retorted and surprisingly Caroline didn't argue with her, instead she just handed Grace a sponge and bucket and set her to work. Much to Grace's shock, Caroline was a bit of a slave driver and kept everyone busy. They were constantly working and as soon as they were finished with one car, Caroline seemed to have another car waiting to be cleaned. Grace was surprised by the amount of people who were turning up to the carwash, it seemed like Mystic Falls had a real sense of community and she couldn't help but admit that she was having fun. Everyone seemed really nice, the boys from the football team were up for a laugh and didn't mind goofing off for a bit to have a bit of the water right and the girl from the cheerleading team seemed nice enough. Grace was starting to feel like she was getting settled in Mystic Falls.

"Grace?"

Jumping out of her skin, Grace turned around to see Stefan standing behind her and Grace just sighed with a relief. For a moment she thought that it was Caroline coming to bust her for sneaking off to the grill whilst no one was looking to grab a sneaky lunch to take out and get back before anyone had noticed. Grace had barely been gone for ten minutes but then could have noticed she was gone as Grace had told Bonnie that she was only going to the bathroom. "Oh hey Stefan…"

"What you up to?" Stefan asked and Grace wearily looked around, making sure that she couldn't see Caroline anywhere in sight before holding up her paper bag that contained her cheeseburger and fries. Caroline would kill Grace if she saw what she was eating.

"I'm hiding from Caroline. I'm kind of a big fan of cheeseburgers and I was hungry so I snuck off to the grill and got one. I already know what shell say if she catches me with this… 'It's supposed to be sexy not sloppy suds Grace! What brings you to my hiding place?"

Stefan laughed briefly at Grace's Caroline imitation. "I just wanted to see if you were okay considering the fact that Damon's left town.

"What are you talking about Stefan? Of all people why would I be upset at Damon leaving town? If anything I should throw a parade…" Grace asked with a frown on her face, she had from Caroline who had been informed by Stefan that his brother had in fact left town. That had been four days ago and to be honest Grace was glad that he was gone considering what had gone down with him and Caroline. After what had happened Grace didn't even think she could look at him, let alone stop herself from slapping for messing with Caroline and then drawing her and messing with her head. Damon had done enough to both Caroline and Grace who missed him just the tiniest bit given that he took off without saying a word, which would have been common courtesy considering what happened with them at the founder's day party. But Grace had decided to look at the bigger picture as Damon being gone

"I've seen the way the two of you look at each other and then I saw the two of you dancing at the founders party." Stefan stated and Grace bit her lip briefly, she was hoping that no one had picked up on that but apparently not.

"Oh that? It wasn't anything really… Trust me when I say your brother and I were never anything, we weren't anything. We just talked occasionally and even then it wasn't exactly normal. At the founders party he asked me to dance and he was yet to offend me so I couldn't really say no. I know Damon's your brother Stefan but I wouldn't even call us friends, all we did was antagonize each other and judging by how Damon took off without a word I'm assuming that the feeling is mutual. So don't worry about me, if anything I'm glad that he's gone." Grace said in an idle manner

"If you sure Grace…" Stefan replied and it's obvious that he didn't believe Grace and to be honest she didn't exactly believe it herself. Damon was a complete jackass, not to mention rude and overly arrogant but there was something about him. It was just the good looks but it was the way he was able to get it Grace's head, pick up on things that other people wouldn't know. She could talk to him about things and know he wouldn't judge her because he was no saint himself. She wasn't invisible to him, Damon could see her clearly… But it no longer mattered as Damon was gone and hopefully never coming back.


	9. Chapter 9

Running was something that Grace clarity, it was one of the few things that she was good at other then picking up new languages and moving at the drop of the hat. Running was always good for helping Grace clear her mind whenever she was stressed, when her parents announced they were moving yet again Grace had gone running quite an awful lot. Now Grace was out for a run, for no particular reason other than it was a pretty nice autumn day and she felt like getting some exercise in. Things were finally settling down in Mystic Falls and Grace had nothing to worry about in the slightest, she had several friends and didn't really feel too much like the weird new girl. No longer did resent being in Mystic Falls, she was growing use to the rather quaint yet odd little town and in the last couple of days she felt particular settled. Especially since her Aunt Lara had convinced her to try out for the school track team. Grace had managed to get on the team much to her relief and she had a sense of belonging but she knew she had to get back into running more regularly if she wanted to keep her spot on the team.

The sound of her watch going off caused Grace to stop in her tracks, the alarm on her watch going off signified that it was time for a break as she had been running non stop for forty five minutes. Grace had only been running in town, she didn't feel ready to tackle going for a run in the woods despite Tyler Lockwood reassuring her that it was damn near impossible to get lost. But he had grown up here where as Grace was still that fresh out of water city kid adjusting to living in a small town. Crossing the street, Grace walked over to the town square and began to do some light stretches in an attempt to loosen up several muscles that we're starting to feel a bit tight. As she did Grace couldn't help but glance over to the grill, she was really tempted to stop in the middle of her run to go get a cheeseburger. But Grace had to remind herself that she couldn't have one as she was being all healthy and keeping a distant from all unhealthy things in her life.

"I thought that was you Red, you're the only person in this town with hair that bright and legs that long, nice to see you put them to good use with all that running. Pretty impressive if I do say so myself…"

The hairs at the back of Grace's neck immediately stood up and a familiar sensation went up Grace's back. That voice sounded an awful lot like Damon but Grace told herself that it wasn't possible as he had left town. So it must have been her mind playing tricks on her which annoyed Grace as she had claimed that she wasn't going to be like a love struck teenage girl when it came to Damon Salvatore but that wasn't turning out too well. Despite Grace's best efforts, he had managed to crawl under her skin enough that she thought she was hearing him. Grace didn't like it at all, despite the fact Damon was no doubt long gone, in some place breaking some other girls heart he was still capable of messing with her head. Never before had Grace met a boy who was capable of turning her world upside down in such a short amount of time. Taking a deep breath Grace slowly turned around and saw that she wasn't imagining things as Damon was really there. "Damon…"

"Glad to see that you've missed me." Damon quipped standing there in all of his dark haired and dazzling blue eyes glory, with his trademark smirk as he stepped closer to Grace who told herself that this wasn't going to be like all the other times. Grace wasn't going to let Damon take control and turn her into some bumbling idiot just because she may be very attracted to him and besides he needed to answer her questions and Damon had some serious explaining to do.

"What are you doing here?" Grace immediately demanded forgoing all niceties.

"Now Red, have you seem to forgotten that I live here…"

"That's not what I mean, you're not supposed to be here Damon, Stefan said you left Mystic Falls and weren't coming back." Grace firmly stated as she did not appreciate being treated like an idiot especially by Damon of all people. But she did need answers from him about what went down when he disappeared out of the blue without any explanation. "So what are you doing back here?"

"Well Stefan can't exactly tell me what to do I am the big brother, I'll stay and do whatever I please." Damon replied with his usual arrogance and normally Grace would play along with this and throw in a witty and flirty response but things were different now. Things had changed during the time between their dance at the founders' party and them standing here now.

"Just like you did whatever you wanted to Caroline, right? I know what you did to her Damon. You hurt her, you hurt Caroline…" Grace threw out and she was annoyed about how nonchalant Damon was acting about the entire thing. Like it didn't even matter.

"Did she tell you that?"

"No. But she didn't have to, I saw the bite marks all over her body, I watched her fall apart because of what you did. I took care of her when she confused and upset about how you hurt her. I knew you were an ass but I didn't real think you were a sadistic asshole. It took me a while to realize why you'd do that to someone but it came to me. It was never about Caroline, this was about Stefan and the fact that you're punishing him over the fact that he ruined things with you and Katherine, if that's even the truth. Taking out your problems with Stefan on Caroline is just despicable, Caroline may be many things but she doesn't deserve to be treated the way you've treated her or be used in some petty rivalry. You're supposed to be her boyfriend Damon!" Grace angrily stated, her voice going up a few octaves as she continued to lecture Damon about his treatment of Caroline. Grace wanted him to know that what he did wasn't okay, that he couldn't act like it was nothing. Both him and Caroline may be both pretending that nothing was wrong but Grace wasn't.

"What is this really about Red? Is this about me taking off during the founders party or about the fact that I didn't say goodbye?" Damon interrupted and Grace actually spluttered as she couldn't believe that Damon was trying to spin this around and divert attention away from the Caroline situation by talking about the two of them.

"This isn't about you and me–" Grace retorted which did nothing except cause Damon to smirk in amusement and Grace could feel herself just getting worked up. He was pushing her buttons, there was no doubt about that and it was working.

"So you admit that there is a me and you?"

Grace just rolled her eyes, she had no idea why some part of her had a crush on a man lacking in any common decency and compassion or even empathy. "There is no me and you Damon, there never has been and most certainly never will be. "

"Keep telling yourself that and one day you might believe it Red." Damon replied with a small chuckle and Grace just felt her jaw harden. She was finding it hard to be around him with every passing second. She could not believe how unbelievable he was being and acting like he had done nothing wrong.

"If you insist on being here, stay away from Caroline." Grace warned, completely ignoring Damon's question, how she felt or didn't feel had nothing to do with this. There was no them, this conversation was about him and Caroline although if Grace got her way Damon would never be within ten feet of Caroline again. "I'm warning you now Damon because if you don' and you try anything with her I'll go to Sheriff Forbes and tell her everything and I doubt she'll be too happy when she finds out what you've done to her daughter."

"I didn't hurt Caroline… Ask her for yourself and she'll tell you that." Damon coolly replied with a cat ate the canary kind of smirk. Grace was convinced that Damon knew that Caroline would never admit to anyone what had actually happened. So now he was trying to convince Grace that nothing had happened between him and Caroline, that she was being a paranoid and jealous person. Grace was never going to fall for that as had spent the whole weekend comforting Caroline, making sure she was okay. Besides Grace had seen the bruises for herself and knew that no sane person wanted to be used as another person's chew toy.

"Stockholm syndrome, just because this is Mystic Falls doesn't mean that stuff like that can't happen. But I'm sure you know more about that than me Damon…" Grace retorted as Damon wasn't the only one who was capable of a quick comeback and he seemed surprised by Grace's response and despite the seriousness of the situation she was a little bit pleased on the inside with herself.

"Why do you care so much? Are you jealous Red?" Damon questioned slowly and Grace just rolled her eyes which seemed to make things worse as the biggest smirk quickly appeared on Damon's face. "You missed me when I was gone, didn't you Red? That's why you're so angry with me… I knew it. You're trying to convince your self that your angry about something that did not happen with Caroline because you missed me. You were mad that I left town without saying goodbye and you're using this so called Caroline thing to cover that up."

"In your dreams Salvatore but I am slightly concerned about this obsession you seem to think I have over you. You are very much deluded if you think I missed you in any shape or form. I was actually glad you were gone and I'm upset because you're back here Damon. Caroline is my friend and you've hurt her and that's why I mad, it's not for any other reason but if you want to tell yourself it's because I have feelings for you then go ahead if that satisfy's whatever goes on in that twisted head of yours. Knock yourself out!" Grace angrily snapped as she was getting rather fed up of Damon avoiding her questions in order to talk about the two of them. Which by the way didn't even exist. Having enough of this conversation with Damon, Grace decided to walk away before she did something that she wouldn't regret but as Grace began to walk away Damon grabbed her arm and pulled Grace back.

"I missed you too Red." Damon told Grace as he looked her directly in the eyes and the two of them stood there for a few seconds before Damon let go of her arm. Grace stayed there and looked at Damon for a few more seconds before finally walking away. The fact that Damon was having the last word again irritated Grace me to no ends but she wasn't going to turn around after having just dramatically walked away. Grace had too much pride for that. But the ironic thing was despite the fact that Damon had presumed Grace had missed him, which she kind of did in the tiniest part but she was never going to let him know that. However Grace was glad that he had missed her. But she now hated him too.


End file.
